Friday, February 21, 2014

An Overview of Dinosaur Exhibits Part Three: The Field Museum

I think everyone has their favorite place in the world, a
place that just restores their life, a place tied up with countless memories.
It can be a house or a park, or a stadium, or a school.For me it was the Field Museum of Natural
History on the East Side of Chicago near Grant Park. I can’t remember when I
first went. It might have been in 1991, or even as a baby.You see, when I lived in Chicago, you could go to the library and get
passes for the Field Museum, Art Institute, Shedd Aquarium or the Adler
Planetarium. My mother didn’t have a job at the time, so she would take me, my
mother, and our two cousins to the museums and zoos of Chicago.

Like any kid, I loved the colorful native American costumes,
horses and buffalo. I was engrossed by the realistic taxidermy dioramas. I was
absolutely terrified of the Northwest indian and Melanesian statues, relics,
totems and masks as they loomed with their ancient power out of the gloom.I marveled at the precious minerals and gems
gleaming in the dark.I was haunted by
the Egyptian tomb exhibit, dark and cramped and mysterious. And, of course, I
loved the great fossil hall.

The Field
Museum’s fossil displays
have changed a lot over the years.At
the beginning, there was a long low hall and some filled with fossil cabinets
and a few mounts. A look at the Field
Museum archive photos
shows Megaloceras, Megatherium, and the rear half of an Apatosaurus.The museum accumulated fossils between 1930
and 1960, and by the 60s they had completely renovated Halls 37 and 38.Invertebrate fossils and dioramas of Paleozoic
sea life led up to a series of cases into the main hall. I was only a toddler
when I saw it, but I do remember it. The centerpiece was the finished
Apatosaurus, a composite mount given a Camarosaurus skull based on the Yale
Peabody’s reconstruction.It took until
the 80s for them to place the correct skull on the specimen.

The exhibit was laid out with a central series of huge
mounts of Apatosaurus, Triceratops, Megatherium, Megaloceras, Mammut and
Mammuthus (not necessarily in that order and I may have forgotten the others)
in the center aisle with the other fossils and mounts placed in cases to the
sides.The walls were lined with the
magnificent murals of Charles R Knight, painted for the museum in 1933. 28
paintings depicted scenes from the history of life on earth from the fire and
steam of the Hadean Eon to the Ice Ages of the Pleistocene.The Mastodon and Wooly Mammoth stood back to
back facing the climax of the exhibit. On the last wall, Charles Knight’s epic
mural of Wooly Mammoths and rhinoceros marching across the tundra was flanked
by two smaller paintings showing Cave Bears and Giant deer. Below were Phillip
Blaschke’s three dioramas: one showing Merychippus galloping away, another
showing a family of brontotheres, and a third showing a group of Neanderthals.

However, things changed in 1992 when the Field Museum
acquired the Maori meeting house (Wharenui) Ruatepupuke
II. They moved the building into Hall 38 as an
adjunct to a new exhibit on the Pacific islands, while moving their fossils to
the opposite side of the second floor. The new exhibit was brightly lit, had
more displays, and was very child-friendly with some colorful robots explaining
the formation of life, dioramas, a pack of model Herrerasaurus, small toy
dioramas showing the Mesozoic era, and the best part being Bill Curtis and the
CBS news making periodic reports on Earth’s environment.Highlights included a room of human origins,
Blaschke’s brontotheres brought out to confront the audience, a video
presentation, a walk-in replica of the Mammoth House of Mezhirich,a video presentation on the Fossil Lake site,
a prehistoric horse race, and new mounts of Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, and
the moving of the Albertosaurus (now reclassified as Gorgosaurus) and
Lambeosaurus to the main hall. It was brightly lit and colorful, and very kid
friendly.

In
2004, however, they renovated again.This time, the focus is not on amusing kids with games and toys, but
educating both young and old alike. More Charles Knight paintings were brought
from storage, more fossils; many from Madagascar
and South America, sea animals are given
space, and finally cartoon videos explaining scientific concepts like
abiogenesis, sex, natural selection, and the principles of evolution.

Each
room represents a period of time, and is marked by a panel showing the geologic
time scale and art depicting the era by Karen Carr.She also illustrates the panels labeling and
describing each animal (replacing the beautiful but outdated panels by John
Conrad Hansen).The first two rooms have
no specimens or displays, but have a video, a Charles Knight mural, and panels
explaining abiogenesis and the evolution of life. We get our first animals with
a small diorama depicting the Edicaran fauna at the end of the Precambrian eon,
but the first real fossils come in the first Paleozoic room

This room, covering the is distinct for the central display
of trilobites, the three-paneled CGI animation of the Cambrian fauna, a ring of
fossils of the Cambrian animals, and the oldNautiloid model restored over a display of Ordovician fossils.The next room picks up with a display of
early plants under the Charles Knight painting depicting the Devonian
landscape, leading to another room featuring prehistoric fish, organized by
taxonomy. Not only are whole fish displayed, but is also a display of shark
teeth from later periods join them.The
room also contains both the specimen and reconstruction of the “missing link”
between fish and amphbians, Tiktaalik, and the old Silurian Diorama.

The next room has always been part of the exhibit- the
Carboniferous forest.An artificial
forest is infested with insects, amphibians, and featuring the giant arthropod
Arthropleura and the Griffinfly Meganuera. Fossils of the animals are scattered
around the room, which is make to look bigger by carefully placed windows.
There is a wall of plant fossils and a display on the enigmatic state fossil of
Illinois, the
small, bizarre invertebrate Tullimonstrum.

This leads to the Permian room, featuring two large glass
cases with early tetrapod skeletons, one stretching along the entire length of
the room. Above the case is Charles Knight’s beautiful mural showing
Dimetrodon, Diplocaulus, Edaphosaurus and Casea in the early Permian reed beds
of Texas. Not
only are those species shown, but a huge variety of Permian Texan creatures
with the most significant being the iconic Dimetrodon. However, there is also a
small display of Late Permian animals from South Africa.The room ends with a discussion of the
Permian extinction.

The Triassic room is actually pretty big-Charles Knight’s
mural of Cynognathus attacking a Kannemeyeria representing the therapsids of
Triassic South Africa is placed over a display of Lystrosaurus, skulls of big
temnospondyl amphibians and phytosaur reptiles add flavor, there’s a display on
the origin of true mammals, and finally there’s the centerpiece of
Herrerosaurus skeleton and model side by side. The other models have been
removed, but the existing one fits fine as a sculptural reconstruction.

The centerpiece of any paleontology exhibit, indeed, of any
natural history museum, is the dinosaurs, and this remade dinosaur hall is
fantastic. It’s back to the dimness of the 60-93 hall, which preserves the
paintings and also gives the skeletons a more atmospheric look. Apatosaurus and
the accompanying Charles Knight mural are still there, but it is joined by the
original type specimen of Brachiosaurus, a Stegosaurus mount and Edmontonia
skull, both cast from the American
Museum’s specimens, and
juvenile Rapetosaurus. Rapetosaurus is a late Cretaceous Titanosaur from Madagascar, and indeed Madagascar’s
rich late Cretaceous fauna is a big part of the exhibit.

Theropods are
represented by an Allosaurus cast skull, the holotype of Crylophosaurus, the
skulls of the Madagascar theropods Masaikosaurus and Majungasaurus, the
Daspletosaurus (as it is now identified) in its Life Over Time pose, and a
small display on Bird evolution.This
display is excellent, with text boxes explaining the dinosaur-bird connection,
Charles Knight’s mural of Compsognathus, Archaeopteryx, and Rhamphorhynchus
overhead, and Buitreraptor with casts of Deinonychus, Archaeopteryx, and
Sinornis making up the fossils.

Protoceratops and Triceratops are back, joined by the frill
of Anchiceratops as well as Knight’s Protoceratops painting. Both the
tyrannosaur and Triceratops are directly parallel to Knight’s most magnificent
painting and my favorite painting in all the world-Tyrannosaurus vs
Triceratops. Nearby, his Hadrosaur mural is placed next to Parasaurolophus and
a cast Maiasaura. There is a niche for other reptiles-the exotic crocodiles of
Madagascar, the turtles and snake of the Mesozoic, and an array of Pterosaur
fossils and casts represent their groups, and finally a Steneosaurus, a marine
crocodile, provides a handy transition to the marine life.

On the far end of the
hall, flanked by Charles Knight’s murals of sea reptiles, is a grand display of
Mesozoic sea life. Giant ammonites and corals, the skulls of Mosasaurs and
Icthyosaurs, and two overhangingslates
of the mosasaur Platecarpus and fish Xiphactinus create a new presence of
marine life. In the previous dinosaur halls, the dinosaurs shown were fairly
limited (no discussion of bird-dinosaur evolution), with one representative of
each major group and the armored dinosaurs being left completely out.There was only a very small display of marine
life based around the Steneosaurus, and it was in an out-of-the-way niche, and
Pteranodon was the only other reptile in evidence.This new fossil hall isn’t as bright or kid
friendly as Life Over Time, or as stately and majestic as the old fossil hall,
but a major improvement in terms of education, depth, and breadth.

As in Life Over Time, there is a video screen talking about
the K-Pg (Cretaceous-Paleogene) extinction. But instead of being followed by a
movie theater presentation of the Fossil Lake (Early Eocene, Green River
formation, Wyoming), the lake’s amazing diversity of specimens have their own
room-reptiles, fish, arthropods and plants are wonderfully preserved. However,
as before, there are no mammals. The mammals of the Paleocene and Eocene
instead have a small room, with the mounts of the primate Nortarctus and odd
herbivore Barylambda, along with skulls of representatives of mammal groups
below Knight’s mural of Uintatherium.

As in Life over Time, the Oligocene and Miocene have their
own very small room, and while it comes off as cramped, there’s an excellent
variety of fossil horses, rhinos, camels, extinct groups like entelodonts,
chalicotheres, nimravids, hyenodonts, and finally some more strange South
American animals. Knight’s mural of the Agate Springs fauna returns, but his
Brontothere mural, as well as Blaschke’s models, are replaced by his
Gomphothere mural showing the later Miocene. It’s great to see more South
American animals like the big herbivore Homaldotherium and the big predator
bird Andalagornis, but behind the scenes glimpses reveal many more excellent
South American fossils couldn’t be fit in due to space concerns like the tail
of the giant glyptodont Doedicurus or the full mount of the bizarre herbivore
Astrapotherium. Perhaps someday they will be unveiled.Fortunately, there is a video accompanying
the specimens explaining parallel evolution and the significance of South
American creatures

There are two smaller sections of the main mammal room-a
display on the evolution of whales (the cast skulls of Rhodocetus, Basilosaurus,
and Cetotherium below Charles Knight’s mural of Basilosaurus), and a small
space discussing ape evolution. It’s slightly smaller than the old room in Life
over Time, but it’s crammed with replica skeletons and skulls of
Australopithecus, Homo Erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens, and even
a life-sized reconstruction of Lucy the Australopithecus (I have seen at least
four).It effectively communicates the
evolution of humans from the other apes, but it does seem brief and
superficial. Again, room is an issue, and of course most of the material is at
the American Museum, Natural History Museum London, or the various museums in
Africa, so it’s a very brief look but an admirable attempt. Adjacent to the Miocene room, the South
American mammals return. Charles Knight’s painting of prehistoric Xenarthrans
hangs over a giant Megatherium while Glyptodon, Nothrotheriops, and a South
American horse are underfoot.

As before, the climax of the exhibit is the Pleistocene
room. It is almost wallpapered with Knight’s amazing murals of the northern
sabertooth, giant deer, cave bear, wooly mammoth, and mastodon (the Moa
painting and cast from Life Over Time, however, is a no-show). Mammoth,
Mastodon, Megaloceras, horse, bison, giant beaver, and cave bear return, as
does the classic mount of Smilodon standing over the carcass of Paramylodon
stuck in tar. They are joined by a small display of a Mammut specimen
discovered nearby and a rearing short-faced bear in an intimidating pose. The
Ice Ages are explained by a small display and video.

The exhibit, before recessing into the requisite store of
paleontology books, models, toys, films and other paraphernalia, has a poignant
last room. One last display explains the unsettling fact that there is a mass
extinction going on right now. Opposite, a wall showing the great diversity of
extant life poses a question-aren't we the only species that can change the destiny of all the others?

It’s not nearly as rich in fossils as the American Museum,
and it’s a lot smaller. The breaking up of the Paleozoic and Cenozoic into
rooms compared to the dinosaur hall is telling of where the focus is, as well
as the sheer size of the dinosaurs compared to the other fossils. However, it
is much more effectively presented, with a continuous narrative through
prehistory rather than a muddled mess of taxonomy.Again, it’s my favorite place in the world,
and I strongly recommend it.

A coda-The main hall of the museum has always had a three
highlights: Two Haida totem poles, Carl Akeley’s magnificent taxidermy of two
dueling elephant bulls, and a dinosaur. From 1960 to 1993, the dinosaur was
Daspletosaurus (identified as first Albertosaurus and then Gorgosaurus),
standing bipedal over the corpse of Lambeosaurus in a dramatic show. In 1993,
they moved it upstairs. Instead, a full mount of Brachiosaurus (based on the
Humboldt museums’ awesome Giraffititan) took the main hall. However, in 1997
the museum acquired the famous (and infamous) Tyrannosaurus specimen Sue. In
2000, they finally finished erecting the skeleton (the head being a cast, the
original head placed on the upper floor). A small display on Sue existed from
2000-2004 before being replaced by the entry to Evolving Planet. The skull is
the centerpiece of the second-floor exhibit based on Sue.The Brachiosaurus, by the way, has been moved
to O’Hare Airport’s Concourse B of the American Airlines terminal. A metal cast
stands outside the museum, however, for anyone to come and see.

3 comments:

Paleontology offers itself as a tool and scope through which you can view the world; it reminds you that humans are just one of the many million species that have roamed on this Earth. Paleontology is a branch of science that aims to paint a picture of the past, a place that we no longer have direct access to. However, paleontology acts as the bridge that connects us and gives us the ability to travel through time.

Fossils and signs from history are stored in the rocks of the Earth so its imperative to understand how the Earth came about and understand that the world is dynamic and fluid. The world has undergone change constantly, for there wasn’t always seven continents.

About Me

Hi everyone! You may know me already, but 99% of you won't. I've decided to make a blog for myself. I'm a anthropology student who has returned to his original passion for palaeontology. Ever since I was little, I've been fascinated with the weird and wonderful animals that have inhabited our planet and I've made this blog to keep this in my mind and hopefully in yours. Most people blog about their interests, and while I've got a range of interests-see history and anthropology above, not to mention zoology, astronomy, art, cooking, science fiction and fantasy films and literature, and a myriad of others, the one I want to do for a living is the study of Earth's ancient past.

On this blog I'll review papers, talk about fossils, museums, and taxa, review art, film, literature, and our culture's view of paleontology, and share memories and insights. I've been inspired by the far better blogs of professional palaeontologists, and I'll share them as time goes on. I'm also open to requests and questions of opinions, the latest palaeo news, and discussions with other fans informal and professional.

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